The module is intended for self-paced learning by faculty and graduate students in the initial stages of their research careers, those involved in providing support for research activities, or by anyone interested in learning more about research data management issues.

The module content is organized under seven topics as: Overview of Data Management, Data Selection, Data Collection, Data Handling, Data Analysis, Data Reporting and Publishing, and Data Ownership. It is suggested that users go through the content in the order listed above. However, if a user would like to go through only particular topics, then it is highly recommended that the Overview of Data Management topic be viewed first before the other topics.

Faculty teaching courses or seminars on research methods can use the module as part of their supplementary teaching resources and encourage students to go through the content and the activities. Faculty can encourage students to go through the games to help them recall definitions, quizzes to test their comprehension of information presented, and the case studies to challenge their decision-making abilities and reflect on them.

Faculty in academic institutions and research investigators in research laboratory settings can use the module as part of their research staff training activities and encourage research staff go through the module and discuss their learning during staff meetings.

Anyone engaged in providing support for research activities, directly or indirectly, can also go through the module for self-learning purposes and comprehend the data management aspect of the responsible conduct of research.

It should be emphasized here that the module is intended to increase users’ awareness of data management issues in conducting research responsibly, but not to provide any particular strategies on addressing ethical or moral dilemmas that may arise in addressing such issues. The developers of the modules understand the importance of such dilemmas and the need for researchers to be prepared to deal with them effectively. However, it is beyond the scope of this module to offer any common guidelines or strategies to deal with such dilemmas that require one to make value judgments based on one’s own ethical or moral principles.

Faculty who would like to use this module in their courses or training activities are encouraged to engage their students/research staff in discussing the possible ethical or moral dilemmas they may face in pursuing research endeavors, and guide them in developing the necessary critical thinking and analytical skills to make better decisions in addressing those dilemmas effectively. The ultimate goal should be to help those involved in research activities to be proactive in learning about the issues and to engage in responsible conduct in pursuing their research activities.

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University is grateful to the Office of Research Integrity at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services for its partial funding of this effort through an RCR Education Grant during 2003-2004. The project team expresses its sincere appreciation to the RCR Resource Development Program at the Office of Research Integrity for its support of this effort. The project team would also like to acknowledge the Graduate School and the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University for providing additional funding and support for this effort.

The project team would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Office of Research Integrity (U.S Department of Health and Human Services) for its partial funding of this project through the RCR Educational Grant awarded to Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University for 2003-2004.

The project team would like to acknowledge the contributions of the staff from the Faculty Development and Instructional Center, the Office of Sponsored Projects and Grants Fiscal Administration in this effort. Considerable additional funding for this effort was provided by the Faculty Development and Instructional Design and other units at NIU.

Faculty Reviewers

This collaborative effort benefited from the generosity of the following faculty and staff at Northern Illinois University who shared their research expertise and experiences during discussions conducted for this project in 2003-2004. Many of them also volunteered their time to review the draft content and activities and offer their feedback on the module. This effort would not have been possible without their support.

The project team would also like to acknowledge a number of graduate students at Northern Illinois University who reviewed the draft content and activities and offered valuable feedback.

Case Study Video Vignettes

The video clips included with the cases in this module were developed with funding from Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center and with the support of the School of Theatre and Dance and the Division of Media Services at Northern Illinois University.

The project team would like to express its sincere appreciation to the following faculty, staff, and students for their participation and contributions to various activities related to development, direction and production of the video vignettes.

Script Development, Direction, and Production

Alex Gelman, School of Theatre and Dance
Robert Schneider, School of Theatre and Dance

Tammy Meneghini, School of Theatre and Dance
Joseph A. Minoso, School of Theatre and Dance
Michael S.Thrower, School of Theatre and Dance
Philip Timberlake, School of Theatre and Dance

Flash Conversion

The Project team would like to acknowledge the following staff of the Office of e-learning at NIU for their contributions to the Flash version of the module:

Aline Click
Scott Fleming
Rachel Turner
Brian Walk

Additional Support from Campus Units

Various campus units offered the use of their facilities for shooting the video clips including the Office of the President, Campus Parking Services, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Environmental Health & Safety, Grounds, the Holmes Student Center and Institutional Research, Finance & Facilities. The project team would like to express its sincere appreciation to the following administrators, faculty and staff at NIU:

The games and quizzes presented on this module were developed by Gopi Jeyaram, Arvind Kumar Govindarajulu and Ratna Jijjavarapu, Graduate Assistants at the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center.

The developers of this website acknowledge that the information presented in this website was compiled from several sources including existing literature, online resources and the Office of Research Integrity’s website . The developers do not claim the concepts presented in the website as their own, but have included adequate links and references wherever possible in the module. If appropriate credit has not been assigned to any information presented in the module, please inform the developers (see Contact Us) so that the necessary corrections can be made and appropriate credit can be given where necessary.

This module is not intended to advocate any particular viewpoint and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Office of Research Integrity or Northern Illinois University. Users are requested to use the website for educational purposes only.